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Privacy Policy

San Diego Blood Bank Privacy Policy

Last Updated: Friday, May 26, 2017

The San Diego Blood Bank is very much aware of how important it is to safeguard your privacy and insure the proper handling of your personal information. Almost all San Diego Blood Bank web pages can be accessed without giving us any information about yourself. Sometimes though we do require information to provide services that you request, and this privacy statement explains how data is collected and used in those situations. This privacy statement only applies to websites owned by the San Diego Blood Bank. It does not apply to other online sites, offline sites, sponsors, advertisers, products or services that may appear via links, articles, images and by other means on any San Diego Blood Bank website.

How We Collect Your Personal Information

We sometimes require your personal information so that we can identify you or contact you if necessary. Typically this is only required when you are using one of our online services such as when you make an online appointment, make a financial donation using a credit card donation form or when you submit a vehicle donation form. When making online appointments we typically request this personal information only one time when you register a new account. Other services such as credit card donation forms and vehicle donation submission forms require this information every time you use them because we do not require a special account be created for their use. Other services such as the ability to update your e-mail contact preferences only require your e-mail address.

How We Use Your Personal Information

Your personal information is used in the following ways:

To identify you in our records.

To contact you if necessary.

To provide services to you that require your personal information.

To allow you access to otherwise restricted areas of a website.

We track and analyze your anonymous visit data so that we can research website usage trends to provide you with a better web surfing experience on our websites. None of your personal information is involved in this process.

The San Diego Blood Bank may need to disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in a good-faith effort to: (a) adhere to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process; (b) protect or defend the rights of San Diego Blood Bank property, or (c) respond during circumstances that require immediate action to protect the personal safety of San Diego Blood Bank employees, donors, or members of the public in general. The San Diego Blood Bank will never sell or otherwise distribute your information except as previously mentioned.

How We Control Your Personal Information

When you provide us with your personal information we will not share that information with parties outside of the San Diego Blood Bank without your permission other than when required to do so as outlined above. We will only use your personal information for the reasons mentioned above.

Registering an account at a San Diego Blood Bank website also allows you to specify your contact preferences so that we can make certain not to invade your privacy, but instead only provide you with the information you wish to receive and nothing more. Currently we have services in place which allow you to control your e-mail contact preferences via our website. In the future we hope to provide you with the ability to also specify how we may contact you via phone, mail and other methods of communication. In the meantime though you will need to contact us to make any additional contact preference changes.

The San Diego Blood Bank does send out appointment reminder e-mails and may in addition to or in place of make appointment reminder phone calls. You cannot opt out of services such as this because it is considered to be an essential part of the service. Typically though in cases like this you would have to opt in to a service before you would be contacted.

How To Access Your Personal Information

The San Diego Blood Bank provides you with a variety of methods to ensure that your information is accurate and up to date.

If you register an online account using a San Diego Blood Bank website you are required to enter your personal information. During future visits and usage of that online account you will be given the opportunity to review and make changes to your information. During any donation process you will also be given the chance to review the information we have on record for you and update it where necessary. You may also contact us directly and request that any of your information be updated.

Some services accessed on San Diego Blood Bank websites may collect information that cannot be modified online. In cases such as this you can contact us directly to review and update information as necessary.

How We Secure Your Personal Information

The San Diego Blood Bank realizes how important your personal information is and that is why we are committed to the security and protection of it. We accomplish this by using a wide range of security technologies to protect your information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Some of the ways in which we do this are:

We control physical access to the computers that store this information through the use of security personnel and secure rooms.

We control electronic access to this information by using access control lists, access policies, as well as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other security related systems and devices.

When your personal information is transmitted over the Internet we use encryption such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol to protect it.

How We Protect Children's Personal Information

San Diego Blood Bank websites are intended for use by the general public and do not knowingly collect any personal information from children.

How We Use Cookies

When you visit a San Diego Blood Bank website we normally do not use cookies unless it is necessary to do so in order that we may provide a service to you. Some of our services such as the online appointment process use cookies for security reasons so that we may verify who you are. We never store your personal information in cookies for security reasons.

Web beacons, also known as clear gif technology, or action tags, may be used for website usage and statistical analysis purposes only. This technology tells us how many visitors clicked on key elements (such as links or graphics) on San Diego Blood Bank web pages. We do not use this technology to access your personally identifiable information. We do not allow other companies to use technology like this on our websites for any reason.

You may configure your web browser not to accept cookies from San Diego Blood Bank websites and you should still be able to access almost all content. But some services may not function properly and may require the use of cookies in order for you to use them.

How We Change Our Privacy Policy

The San Diego Blood Bank will occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will also revise the "last updated" date at the top of the privacy statement.

How We Can Be Contacted

The San Diego Blood Bank welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. Should you wish to contact us you may do so at this web page.